Carnival season 2014 is well underway across Europe and the Americas. These pre-Lent bacchanalian festivals have been taking place for nearly a month, ushering out the winter and welcoming in spring. The largest and most famous of all--the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil--took place this weekend. The city's 6 million residents, along with more than 900,000 tourists, crowded the streets for days of rowdy, joyous parades and extravagant processions by the city's best samba schools. Gathered here are recent images of carnivals around the world. [35 photos total]

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A float named "Imperial Bocuse", featuring French chef Paul Bocuse parades during the Nice Carnival in Nice, France, on March 2, 2014. The theme of this year's carnival, running from February 14 until March 4, 2014, is the "King of Gastronomy".
(Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)
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A costumed participant poses on St Mark's square during the Carnival in Venice, Italy, on February 23, 2014. The 2014 edition of the Venice carnival entitled "Wonder and fantasy nature" runs from February 15 to March 4, 2014.
(Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)
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Revelers participate in the traditional 28th Bloco da Lama (Mud block) carnival in Parati, Brazil, on March 1, 2014. The event, which was begun by two men in a playful manner in 1986, has now become a traditional carnival in which participants disguised as primitives with rags, lianas or skulls and bones, dive in the mud.
(Victor Moriyama/Getty Images)
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A woman, covered in oil and soot wearing bull horns on her head and cowbells on a belt representing the devil, runs around while participating in carnival celebrations in the small village of Luzon, Spain, on March 1, 2014.
(AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
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A young woman carries her mask before performing in a carnival procession in the southeastern Macedonian town of Strumica, on March 1, 2014. Some 2,500 costumed people participated on the main carnival evening.
(AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
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Children wearing masks rest inside a house during Bele Poklade carnival celebrations in the village of Lozovik, some 100 km (62 miles) from Belgrade, Serbia, on March 2, 2014. Bele Poklade has its roots in old pagan customs and is marked annually seven weeks before Easter.
(Reuters/Marko Djurica)
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A boy wearing a mask jumps over a fire during Bele Poklade carnival celebrations in Lozovik, Serbia, on March 2, 2014. Bele Poklade has its roots in old pagan customs and is marked annually seven weeks before Easter. Children walk through the village to collect eggs, and at the end they jump over a fire to banish evil demons.
(Reuters/Marko Djurica)
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A reveler dressed as a devil is reflected in a puddle before he takes part in a carnival parade in Lazarim, Portugal, on March 1, 2014. People in Lazarim wear specials wooden masks made by local carpenters during the carnival festivities.
(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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A woman takes part in the annual block party known as "Ceu na Terra" or (or Sky on Earth), one of the many carnival parties to take place in the neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, on March 1, 2014.
(Reuters/Pilar Olivares)
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A man holds a bottle of sparkling wine as he drives a car at the "Ceu na Terra" block party during Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro, on March 1, 2014. Rio's over-the-top Carnival is the highlight of the year for many local residents. Hundreds of thousands of merrymakers will take to Rio's streets in the nearly 500 open-air "bloco" parties.
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
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